Zeile, Rohrbach selected on Day 2 of MLB Draft

For both, it will go down as one of the most memorable days of their lives.

Two players with local ties were selected on Day 2 of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Friday.

Valencia High graduate and UCLA junior catcher/first baseman Shane Zeile was selected in the fifth round by the Detroit Tigers and former College of the Canyons pitcher and Long Beach State ace Andrew Rohrbach was taken in the ninth round by the Colorado Rockies.

Zeile was taken 160th overall and was informed by the Tigers a couple of picks before, that if he were available he’d be their guy.

“I was upstairs in my room (when the pick came in) and wasn’t getting service (on my phone). My family was downstairs watching it and I heard them screaming downstairs,” Zeile said.

Zeile was a three-year varsity third baseman for the Valencia Vikings and graduated in 2011.

He continues a streak of a Valencia product being taken in every draft since 2004.

In 2013, he won a national title as the Bruins’ starting catcher.

This season, his batting average jumped nearly 100 points to .324.

He had a .401 on-base percentage and a .421 slugging percentage with two home runs and 28 RBIs and was All-Pac-12.

Zeile said he will likely forego his senior year and sign with the Tigers.

“I think I’m planning on going and starting my professional career,” said Zeile, whose uncle Todd, a Hart High grad, played 16 years in the big leagues. “I’ll forever be thankful for the years at UCLA. They were the best years of my life.”

Rohrbach also said he is leaning toward turning pro.

“I’m mentally and physically ready to go out there,” Rohrbach said of turning pro. “It’s just another stepping stone in the process. You don’t get many opportunities like this. Sometimes they come once in a lifetime.”

The Valencia resident was at College of the Canyons from 2011 to 2013 and became the ace of the Long Beach State pitching staff this season because of injuries to others, but also his performance.

He was 7-2 with a 2.05 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 16 starts and struck out 69 batters in 109 2/3 innings.

Rohrbach, a Simi Valley High graduate, was a shortstop in high school who just began pitching in 2011.

He pitched just four innings at COC after returning from a 2012 Tommy John surgery.

“It was a long day,” Rohrbach said of the draft. “Once it happens then you sit down and say, ‘Wow, it really happened.’”